champion light

Chapter 1239 The Crucial Battle

The fourth round of the Premier League was held immediately after the national team match, but fortunately there was a week between them. If it was half a week, it is estimated that the impact of the FIFA virus would be greater.But even so, many players who participated in the national team game felt tired.

The FIFA virus is really not just a joke, but it really exists.

It does affect the performance of the players.

Therefore, many wealthy teams may not perform well after the national team game, and they have to rotate the lineup, replace those main players who are tired from playing the national team game, and let substitute players play.

But for the giants, their substitute players are often the main force of the national team, and they also need to participate in the national team competition...

This is the situation in Manchester City today. On a national team match day, the Carrington training base was directly empty.

In the past, there was Rong Guang who insisted on training here, and now even Rong Guang has returned to China to participate in the competition.

The training content for this week is not easy to arrange, mainly focusing on physical training.Then players who did not participate in the national team game simply practiced with the youth team.

It would be fine if it was the impact of the national team's games, but the situation is different now.

The next league game for Manchester City is crucial.

Because if they can beat Wigan Athletic at home, they will surpass AC Milan and create the longest consecutive unbeaten record among the five major European leagues!

At such a critical time, if they lose the league because of the national team game...it would be really not worth it.

Therefore, Benitez is particularly concerned about the status of players who have participated in the national team competition.

Sneijder was injured in the Dutch national team game. Although the injury is not serious, he will definitely miss the game against Wigan Athletic.

This is bad news.

Fortunately, Gareth Barry, who participated in the England national team game, is all normal. Of course, this is also related to the fact that he came off the bench and didn't play many minutes at all.

Another piece of good news is that Kaka was not selected for the Brazilian national team at all.

After the World Cup in South Africa, Kaka was selected for the Brazilian national team again. On the one hand, it was because of injury, on the other hand, because of his poor performance in Real Madrid. Another reason was that Dunga, the head coach of the Brazilian national team who valued him, was dismissed because of the failure of the World Cup in South Africa.

During this period of time, although his performance in Manchester City was not bad, he still failed to catch Pereira's eyes. He was not called into the team for this national team game.

This is not a good thing for Kaka himself, but it is great news for Benitez.

Kaka's performance has just improved. If he gets injured in the Brazil national team match, who can he turn to for reasoning?Going to a lawsuit with the Brazilian Football Association will not allow the Brazilian Football Association to give him a healthy Kaka.

It would be best for Kaka not to go to the Brazilian national team.

Another news that comforts Benitez is that Rongguang did not play all two games after returning to China. In the first game against Singapore, he did not come off the bench until the No. 606 minute. In the second game against Jordan, he was also replaced at 87 minutes.

Although Gao Hongbo definitely didn't think of Manchester City in the first game, but what he did was actually to help Manchester City.

Rongguang still got some rest time in these two national team games.

In the case of Sneijder's injury, Kaka and Rongguang are in good condition and physical condition, so Benitez is relieved.

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Wigan Athletic also has some international players in the national team, but compared with Manchester City, their number of international players is much smaller.

It is also less affected by the FIFA virus.

Under such circumstances, Wigan Athletic has made tactical arrangements for Manchester City, of course, they still use their usual fierce and tough tactical style to deal with Manchester City.

Today, under the leadership of a Spanish coach, Manchester City has become a team playing continental football style. They control the ball more on the ground. The players generally have high technical ability and delicate style.

Such a team is as beautiful as an exquisite vase, but what they are most afraid of is that kind of tenacious team.

Compared with a vase, a brick is naturally ugly, but if a brick collides with a vase, the vase must be broken, not the brick.

Before the game, Wigan Athletic has already released words.

"We are not going to let Manchester City step on our dead body to complete the record. We have no prejudice against Manchester City, but this is a game and we will pursue victory."

The head coach of Wigan Athletic said in an interview with reporters before the game.

Benitez also showed no weakness in this regard: "We will not deliberately pursue such things as creating records. But we will deliberately pursue victory."

In other words, the record only requires an unbeaten game, and a tie is acceptable.

But the victory Benitez mentioned is higher and more difficult than a draw.

The implication is that Manchester City didn't take this record seriously at all. Creating a record was just something they accomplished in the process of pursuing victory.

Benitez's ability to say such things is obviously related to what he has observed in training these days.

During the training, Rong Guang, Kaka and Zlatan Ibrahimovic were in very good condition.

Benitez felt that even if Gareth Barry and David Silva were injured and unable to play, with his attacking trident combination, he could also win Wigan Athletic at home.

Therefore, taking into account the factors of the national team game and the UEFA Champions League away game in the next week, Benitez does not plan to send all the main players in this game.

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The game between Manchester City and Wigan Athletic is not only followed by the whole of England, but also in Europe and even the whole world.

If Manchester City can not lose to Wigan Athletic, then they will no longer be one of the legends, but a legend!
When Manchester City announced their starting lineup for this game, everyone saw that Manchester City's main players such as David Silva Matuidi, Godin, and Alba did not appear in the starting lineup.

Instead, there are substitutes and rotation players.

At such an important moment, Manchester City still has reservations?

Analysts are beginning to think that Benitez is too big?
Of course, Manchester City's form this season is very good, and it seems that no opponent can stop them from continuing to win.But football always seems to be round, and there are always some surprises.

Maybe an accident will happen in this game?
Benitez rested so many key players, isn't he afraid to give the players a wrong signal, thinking that they can easily beat Wigan Athletic, which will lead to pride and underestimation of the enemy and lose the game?

And this starting list is good news for Wigan Athletic.

Sneijder's injury was a big deal, and David Silva also entered the bench because of the rest.

In midfield was the homegrown duo of Milner and Gareth Barry.

Both playmaking and scoring threats have plummeted.

And this starting lineup shows that Manchester City doesn't take Wigan Athletic at all!

In this regard, Wigan Athletic's head coach did not feel the anger of being slighted, but was very happy.

He hopes that Manchester City will step onto the field with this kind of thinking, and then he and his fearless fighters will teach Manchester City's players how to behave!
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After Benitez announced the starting list, the media believed that Manchester City obviously underestimated the enemy, and a reporter interviewed Rong Guang on this issue.

Rong Guang expressed his surprise: "How could it be underestimating the enemy? We attach great importance to every opponent, but the lineup also needs to be rotated. You must know that many of us have just played for the national team. I don't think rotation means underestimating the enemy. This statement by the media is unfounded."

He euphemistically said that the media is talking nonsense.

※※※

The time for the game finally arrived.

Wigan Athletic's main force is out, challenging Manchester City away.

This game has attracted much attention, and the Premier League's broadcast organization has also selected this game as a free live broadcast to the world, which will allow the Premier League to gain greater influence around the world.

So the fact that this game is free has very little benefit to the TV station.

China's CCTV also broadcast the match.

In the beginning, CCTV bought the broadcast rights from Tiansheng Media, and it was not exclusive.However, after three seasons, starting from this season, CCTV will have the exclusive broadcasting rights in mainland China.For this reason, CCTV can spend huge sums of money to buy broadcasting rights from the Premier League.

The reason for them to do this is naturally because Manchester City, where the glory is located, has performed well.And CCTV is not worried at all about not getting back the money.Although their games are broadcast live to a national audience for free, the advertising revenue alone more than makes up for their expenses, and may even make a small profit.

Rongguang's name is a golden signboard in business, and countless brands want to have a relationship with him.

Those brands that can't sign Rongguang endorsement can only sponsor the live broadcast of the Premier League game, let their logo appear before and after the game, etc., so as to use the popularity of Rongguang to be exposed in front of the Chinese TV audience.

Even though CCTV's asking price is very high, the supply is still in short supply.

For this game, CCTV launched a continuous promotional campaign half a month in advance, telling fans and TV viewers all over China how important the match between Manchester City and Wigan Athletic is, they must watch it, and they will definitely regret not watching the live broadcast.

Their slogan is also very provocative: "A legend is about to be born. At this time, do you choose to part ways with the legend, or stand side by side with the legend? At 5:[-] pm on September [-], BJ time, CCTV[-] sports channel will become a part of history with you!"

The constant bombardment of advertisements let everyone know that there is such a game.

So during the game, many people sat in front of the TV. There were not only fans who were concerned about the Premier League and glory, but also many people who didn't usually watch football but liked to join in the fun.

Because of public opinion propaganda, it seems that setting records and winning glory for the country are equated.These people also want to cheer for Glory.

For this reason, CCTV also specially let the commentator He Ping fly directly to Manchester, England, to comment on the match at the Manchester City Stadium.

This kind of treatment can only be enjoyed in the Spanish national derby and the Champions League final...

Now, such a game that is not a strong contest has also made CCTV make such a move, which shows how much they attach importance to this game.

(End of this chapter)